1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to wireless communications. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to controlling wireless local area networks (WLANs).
2. Background Information
Over the past several years, computer networks have become increasingly mobile. One wireless local area networking (WLAN) technology is WiFi, i.e., 802.11. WiFi is a member of the IEEE 802 family, which is a series of specifications for local area network (LAN) technologies. In this family, there are other well-known specifications such as 802.3, i.e., Ethernet. Another WLAN technology is WiMax defined by the IEEE 802.16 standard.
WLANs complement existing fixed networks by providing mobility to users, just as mobile telephones complement fixed wireline telephony. The advantage of mobility is gained by employing a much more open network medium: free space. However, as free space lacks a physical boundary, signals can be sent or received by any device complying with the WLAN standard and therefore different WLANs in a geographical region may interfere with each other. Wireless users in a home WiFi network often observe the presence of several WiFi LANs in their neighborhood. Some even detect that the signal of a neighbor's wireless router is much stronger than their own. When WLANs interfere with each other, connection speed in each LAN is adversely impacted and the aggregate throughput of the WLANs (consisting of all WLANs in one geographical area) is reduced.
Currently, there exist simple methods to reduce the interference between WLANs. Individual WiFi Access Points (AP) or WiFi routers may implement Transmit Power Control (TPC) and Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) services specified in the 802.11x standard. However, TPC and DFS do not aim at global optimization because they are independently and optionally implemented by individual WiFi LANs.
Without a central capacity and performance management system, it is unlikely for WLANs to coordinate with each other and to achieve overall maximum capacity. With WLANs becoming more and more popular and the interference between WLANs occurring more often, the lack of central capacity and performance management is severely degrading the performance of WLANs by reducing the connection speed of individual links and the aggregate throughput of the whole network.
There is a need for addressing the issues identified above.